Gutek, Gerald Lee 1935-

Gerald L. Gutek is a professor emeritus of education at Loyola University Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in Education in 1964 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he specialized in the history of education. His doctoral dissertation was "An Analysis of the Social and Educational Theory of George S. Counts during the Depression of the 1930s." As a graduate student at the University of Illinois, Gutek first became acquainted with Counts through his publications, especially his much quoted book Dare the School Build a New Order? Gutek traveled to Carbondale, Illinois in 1963 to interview Counts, then a distinguished professor at Southern Illinois University. Receptive to Gutek's questions, Counts answered them all, sharing his ideas and recollections on education. Counts encouraged Gutek's research but was determined not to influence the student's interpretation. Gutek went on to write two books on Counts: The Educational Theory of George S. Counts (Ohio State University Press, 1971) and George S. Counts and American Civilization: The Educator as Social Theorist (Mercer University Press, 1984). Gutek's last meeting with Counts was in Chicago when he introduced him as the featured speaker at the annual meeting of the Midwest History of Education Society. In 1976, at Loyola University, Professor Gutek taught a graduate seminar on Counts. He also maintained contact with two Counts scholar--Professor Lawrence Dennis and William Eaton--who taught at Southern Illinois University. Gutek continues his interest in Counts and has contributed a chapter, "George S. Counts and the Origins of Social Reconstructionism," to Karen Riley, ed., Social Reconstructionism: People, Politics, Perspectives (Information Age Publishers, 2006).